Greta Gerwig Cast as Lead in 'HIMYM' Spinoff 'How I Met Your Dad'

Like it or not, CBS is moving ahead with How I Met Your Dad, its spinoff (in name only) of How I Met Your Mother, casting Greta Gerwig as Sally. TVLine broke the news on Tuesday night, adding the scoop that Gerwig "will also serve as a producer and, if the project gets a green light, an occasional writer."

Last week, TVLine also revealed the breakdown of the characters on HIMYD:

SALLY | She’s vibrant, messy and unpredictable — a “female Peter Pan who has never grown up and has no idea of where she’s going in life.” She’s thinking of calling it quits with her husband of a year, Gavin. She’ll lean on her circle of friends for advice and support through the inevitable divorce. That circle includes… 

JULIET | Sally’s sexy, flamboyant, energetic, party-girl BFF. She runs a successful fashion blog. She’s delighted to learn Sally is ending things with the terminally boring Gavin. 

DANNY | Sally’s older gay brother, a Type A, overachieving lawyer whom she shares little in common with. They nonetheless share a tight bond, although Sally’s decision to move in with Danny after her split with Gavin promises to test that bond. 

TODD | Danny’s warm, outgoing husband and one of Sally’s closest friends from college. Unlike Danny, Todd welcomes Sally into their home. 

FRANK | The head of IT for Juliet’s fashion blog. He’s a hot nerd. He has genuine feelings for Sally, but it’s a one-sided flirtation. At least for the moment. 

NARRATOR | It’s Sally from the future. She’s reliving the events of her past to her kids.

I've never been shy about my love for HIMYM, but I'm kind of dreading this spinoff. Even if HIMYM co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas are running the show along with Up All Night creator Emily Spivey, there's just something about this project that doesn't feel right. HIMYM worked because it felt organic. It wasn't forced.

HIMYD doesn't have that vibe.

First off, why is it How I Met Your Dad and not How I Met Your Father? We haven't been watching How I Met Your Mom for nine years, guys. Hopefully it's not too late to fix this error.

More importantly though, everything about HIMYD just seems like an attempt to replicate HIMYM while missing what made the show special. That list of characters above reads like a list of stereotypes — and stereotypes based on HIMYM characters too — not a list of people who came together to become friends.

That said, Gerwig isn't just some random CBS actress. She starred in and co-wrote Frances Ha, a film that got a ton of buzz and was nominated for several awards. It's not like they went out and picked some Two and a Half Men castoff for this role. While Josh Radnor was pretty much an unknown when he was cast as Ted Mosby, both he and Gerwig have the indie filmmaker thing going.